Top Priority
by Unique girl - YAYZ
Summary: Leon is travelling with Ashley, but she is less than co-operative. Can he go through with the mission, sanity in tact? Or will he lose his mind and put an end to her constant annoyances with a bullet?


_**Top Priority**_

Silently his foot touched the gravel. His other soon followed, slightly ahead of the first. Slowly. _Slowly. _No need to rush. Rushing caused trouble and waves upon waves of angry villagers, as he had quickly discovered when he first arrived here. If you didn't want to be overwhelmed then you took it slow, and you made it silent. Each step required precision or the gravel would crunch, and in this silence even a sound as small as that could mean instant death. No, his method was the most effective. Slow steps, preferably a couple of seconds or so between each step, gun cocked and at the ready, silent and deadly like a snake, ears pricked for even the tiniest hint of sound, eyes scanning for the slightest movement, finger gently resting on the trigger ready for…

"**Leon, don't leave me behind!**"

Whirling around on instinct, it was sheer luck that he resisted pulling the trigger. It had become a reaction to shoot at any sounds so human, however soft. To have someone practically shout down his ear, well, it was nothing short of miraculous that he hadn't fired the damn thing. Taking a deep breath, he again scanned the area for any signs of life the shout may have stirred. Nothing moved. His muscles relaxed after several tense seconds and he reluctantly shifted the barrel of the gun so that it no longer pointed straight into the young girl's face.

"Ashley, if you want to get out of here alive you need to stop shouting." He kept his voice low, fully aware of how easily it could echo and how far it could travel in the emptiness.

"I wasn't shouting!" She spluttered angrily, pouting with her bottom lip like a small child.

Wincing at the way her voice bounced across the deserted buildings, Leon attempted to shush her. "Ok whatever, but you have to keep your voice as low as possible. If we speak too loudly the villagers may hear us. We have to avoid drawing their attention."

"I'm speaking perfectly normally, thank you very much." She folded her arms with a grumpy 'harrumph'.

"Exactly, normally is too loud in a place like this. You need to whisper, or we're both done for."

Ashley gave an indignant snort, but kept her mouth shut. Gratefully, Leon heaved a sigh of relief. Protecting the President's daughter was one of the most difficult tasks he'd ever been assigned, and he'd been given some pretty tough ones. Go into a town full of infected villagers? No problem! Face hordes of zombies? He'd do it with a smile. Protect someone who seemed to be intent on not being protected? He wanted to groan. However, he was a professional and this was his duty. Get her to safety. That was his top priority, and he would do it if it killed him. At the rate she was going, that was looking more and more likely. For the first time in years, he doubted whether either of them would make it out of this alive, but nothing showed on his face. No, he wouldn't allow it. Leon was cool and confident, he was known for being quite stoic. Not one hint of worry would he let slip, it would only cause her to panic and then they'd be in an even worse place than they were already.

Turning back around he continued his slow trudge into the tiny village, unsure how she had managed to fall behind in the first place, but not questioning it. He had more important things to focus on. Silently he stalked between the buildings, while a less-than-happy Ashley stomped noisily behind him. He ran his fingers over the cool plastic and metal of the gun he held. How tempting to just point it in her face and silence her and her infernal whining. He gripped the weapon tighter. If only he could find a place to hide her then he could clear the area, that way they could rest in relative safety and he wouldn't have to worry quite so much about her stupid noise pollution. But where? Where could he find such a salvation for his sanity? Then…suddenly…yes! That was it! The perfect place for a perfect pain in the posterior. Tramping up to his glorious saviour, he lovingly rested his hand on it.

"A dumpster? What have we stopped here for?" Her voice, irritatingly shrill, was beginning to grate on his nerves.

"Well Ashley, you're going to hide in here." He creaked open the lid, drowning out her protests for a brief, blissful moment. It was over too soon though, and he once again had to face her. She was glaring at him, hazel brown eyes shimmering furiously.

"I'm not getting in a smelly old dumpster!" One boot-clad foot stamped against the floor.

"Look, here's how it is. Can you hold a gun?"

"Well…kind of…?"

"And can you aim or fire a gun?" Leon interrupted her answer.

"No…"

"Can you reload a gun?"

"…No."

"Can you wield a knife efficiently? Do you have any weapons at all?"

"No and no."

"Exactly." Leon shrugged his shoulders. "You can't defend yourself, so I need to. I can't give you a weapon because you might shoot yourself in the foot or something, and you probably wouldn't hit much with it anyway. If I'm going to protect you, the easiest way is to hide you away and keep you safe. Those…things, aren't smart enough to hunt for you. This is the safest place there is." He gestured calmly to the open dumpster. "Now please get in."

Much to his delight she obeyed, though not without a great deal of loud cursing, some grunts and groans as she heaved herself in, and plenty of dark muttered comments as she settled uncomfortably on the floor. He gladly closed the lid on her, enjoying the peace and freedom. Now, to go hunting…

It wasn't much later that, as he was surrounded by a good many corpses and sinking his bullets into a mentalist wielding a chainsaw, he heard a squeak and a metal clang. _'Oh please for the love of mercy no…'_

"Leon I'm bored of hiding in here! You get back here right now and protect me properly!"

He could hear her slowly clambering out of her sanctuary, no doubt with her back turned so she had no idea of the danger she was getting into. Immediately, the chainsaw maniac turned from him and ambled towards her. He gave chase as best he could, but it was difficult to fire bullets whilst running. He watched as she turned and screeched, her eyes practically popping out of her head at the sight of a massive lumberjack wearing a bag over his head blundering towards her.

"**LEON!"**

With all the resolve he could muster, he lodged another 3 bullets into the guy. 2 went in his back, but the third flew straight and true into the back of the head. The once-human dropped like a sack of spuds at Ashley's feet, and it took all of his strength for Leon to lower his quivering hands.

"What did you think you were doing?" He hissed. "When I tell you to stay put, you do it. Understand?"

"Oh Leon!" She sobbed, completely ignoring his ice cold fury in favour of gripping his arm. His gun wielding arm for the record, the one that he needed to aim with? So he could shoot things? So he could save their lives? Trying desperately to rein his temper in, he shook her off.

"Don't do that, I need full movement."

"I thought I was going to die!" She wailed, clearly not listening to a word he said as she buried her face in her hands.

The hand holding the gun twitched slightly, but he kept it by his side and took a few steps back. Distancing himself from her would give him the breathing space to cool down a little. Sadly, she disagreed and flung her arms around his neck, crying into his shoulder. He tensed and forced himself not to push her to the ground and choke the damn tears out of her. Instead, he placed one hand firmly on her stomach and thrust her away from him. It was tempting, so very, very tempting to just put the barrel to her head and shoot. But his mission was his mission, and he could not afford to give in to his severe annoyance. After all, getting her to safety was his top priority.

Throughout their adventure together, Ashley was constantly captured and often Leon heard his name being shrieked from across the battlefield where she should have been hiding safely. Every time he took aim, every time he shot the thief dead, and every time it grew harder and harder to not let them just take the stupid fool. As time went by, he realised he was being more careless with her. If someone was behind her, he took aim and shot. It was up to her to duck out of the way if she wanted to live. If she started mouthing off and making noise, he would sometimes aim at her behind her back, just to make himself feel better. When she was carried away, he let them take her a little further each time before rescuing her, and all too frequently his aim would rest on her head instead of the thief's for just a little too long.

It was at these times that he realised his top priority had changed. Getting her to safety wasn't important anymore. His new top priority was clear. Try damn hard not to kill the annoying wench. As long as he wasn't the cause of her death, well…that practically made him a saint in itself. What more could they ask of him? In his mind's eye, if it wasn't his hand that killed her, he had pretty much succeeded in his mission. He just prayed he could escape her soon, before he lost his mind completely… Glancing over to her as she rambled on and straightened her rumpled clothes from where she'd been carried, he caressed his gun lovingly. Someday…he'd be free of her.

May that day come soon, he silently hoped.

* * *

Well, I was playing resident evil 4 the other day. That game is so awesome, but Ashley is ridiculously annoying. I wondered how Leon coped without going insane, then I figured that he MUST go insane, but do it silently on the inside. Hence, this was born! Hope you enjoy folks**  
**


End file.
